


Escape the Hand

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: Dooku the Rat [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Jedi shenanigans, Sith Sarcasm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2016-05-20
Packaged: 2018-06-09 17:02:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6915691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of everything on the <i>Invisible Hand</i>, Anakin has to get them down safely, carrying Dooku as his star witness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Escape the Hand

"You let a _droid_ do all of your flying?" Anakin felt his lip curl in distaste as he left Obi-Wan to deal with the Count -- the Sith Lord -- in the main compartment and slid into the cockpit, quickly flipping the switch to disable the FA-4 so that he could move it out of his way. There wasn't a chance in the galaxy he was trusting any Sep droid to even be online while they got the kriff out of this slowly dying hulk and clear of the combat. 

Some of the turbolaser beams out there were more than the width of this thing. Let alone the sheer number of fighters still to dodge... 

What the _kriff_ was this propulsion system? His eyes scanned over the displays, finding standard repulsorlift controls -- weirdly configured, but fairly standard -- and... dozens of short-range tractor beams? 

Where a hyperdrive control system should be, there was instead something he had literally never seen before. Which was both stunning and personally offensive, given that the man obviously didn't even fly the thing! Off to his side, Artoo had already jacked into the ship while he was moving the pilot droid.

"Anakin, are you having difficulty?" Obi-Wan asked in his sweetest, most reasonable voice, as he hoped his partner figured it out fast. "Artoo, have you told the Fleet we have this ship?" he asked the astromech.

While he spoke, he acquired his medkit from his belt, to actually do something about the cauterized stumps of his prisoner. They needed to be protected from debris, and, if their luck held like usual, there would be lots of debris before this was all over.

Artoo whistled back something quite derogatory about him doing his job and leave the astromech to his own! 

"He has your manners; it's a wonder the Senator doesn't scold you more about corrupting him," Obi-Wan told Anakin.

"Why would she?" Anakin asked, getting the ship up onto the repulsors to navigate out of the bay -- they were almost within Coruscant's grav well, he could shove off the _Invisible Hand_ hard enough to make it to the well, tractor off others if he absolutely needed to, and then in the well everything would be fine -- but he _knew_ this thing went interstellar! "And no, Obi-Wan, no trouble at all. Good job, Artoo."

The Count lifted his head slightly, watching him come over with the medkit, but saying nothing for the moment. Though there was something in those dark eyes that looked suspiciously like amusement.

"I'd ask for your word to not try anything, but that would be like asking the Senate to agree on lunch," Obi-Wan told the Count idly. He started on Dooku's right stump, focusing on making sure the cauterization was clean before applying the bacta bandages.

Artoo whistled a request at Anakin; the escorts wanted to know his heading, which was when Anakin realized a couple of the 91st's fighter pilots had joined their air-space.

"The Temple -- but open me a channel, Artoo!" 

Artoo warbled and a switch on the controls lit up. He flipped it, heard the squeal of encrypted comms coming clear, and broke over the chatter. "Boys! You've got better places to be than on my wings! Grievous is still on that ship, which means he's going to evac any second. Get that _sandspawned_ pod this time!" 

"Roger that, General Skywalker," came back one of the pilot's voices. "Up or down, or do we even know?"

Obi-Wan looked at Dooku. "Help us end this, and it will work favorably for you," he told the older man. "Was the escape ship low or high this time?" He held the Count's eyes, trying to make certain of the truth in whatever got said.

Anakin listened with half an ear, the rest of his senses and awareness subsumed in the dance through the debris and ships and turbolaser fire as he broke for Coruscant's atmosphere. He was locked into the calm of knowing that he had to get Obi-Wan out of here safely, had to get the information they carried (the end of this war! An end to all of the deaths, an end to his men's suffering) safely to the Temple. Their prisoner's safety he could not care less about, but Obi-Wan and Artoo, his best friends, their lives were in his hands. 

He wasn't letting himself think about -- no, he was **busy!** \-- anything else. 

The Count studied his face for a few moments, before he answered, giving the location of the escape pod with a slight shrug of one shoulder. "...I almost think you believe that, Kenobi. Your optimism is almost nauseating." 

Anakin caught Obi-Wan's wary belief and relayed it to the pilots, rolling the ship (by using a half-dozen tractor beams) in a tight arc around the aft end of another cruiser. The gravity well caught them and he breathed a soft noise of relief before he shoved the repulsors to their full strength and shot downward. 

"Anakin, if we are going for the Temple, please have Artoo request Senator Bail Organa have a deputation of all factions in the Senate meet us there. We must present evidence swiftly, or things will be in chaos!" Obi-Wan was fairly certain Artoo either had the Senator's frequency, or could find it swiftly.

He then focused on Dooku's words to respond to that, using the Force, already on guard, to hold himself and Dooku in place against Anakin's piloting. "Like my Master before me, I try to see the best in people," Obi-Wan informed him stiffly. "And hold myself to an actual morality that my peers share." He wasn't thinking about Anakin's occasional short-cuts, or the fact that Krell had been… so vile.

Artoo gave a shrill tirade at the suddenness of Anakin's maneuvers, clinging to the port he'd jacked into and user his thrusters on low to stay there until he could throw his anchor cable into place. He did manage to transmit the request to Senator Organa and then shoot off a request to the nearest unit of clones for escort, given that he knew his own Senator might be among them. It was what his master would want. 

"Sorry, Artoo," Anakin apologized, wrapping the Force around him despite the thrusters already on. "We're almost inside the mirror ring, at least?" 

Dooku simply shook his head slightly, bracing himself against the seat he'd taken and Kenobi's hold on the Force. That Kenobi would hold Qui-Gon up to him, when he had argued for the insolent young pup's life not an hour before... it was infuriating.

Almost as infuriating as the thought that Sidious had never meant any of his encouragements, any of his promises... anything. He had been a means to an end. _He_ had been! 

"That 'morality' you seem so certain of still demands the death of any Sith," he said, rather than address the rest of it, "and the Jedi are hardly my only... adversaries." 

"Then I suppose," Obi-Wan began nonchalantly, "you'll just have to renounce being a Sith." Obi-Wan's mouth twitched with a wry sense of amusement. "After all, what has it gained you? And… if you were not a Sith, as well as cooperative on this entire mess of unraveling the nest of lies Palpatine left, we might be able to lend a hand when those others came calling."

There was a piece of Obi-Wan that would, by far, rather that Dooku came to a violent end. But he was Jedi, and the path to peace could be had through accommodations with the man, so the galaxy could begin its recovery.

"At present," Dooku replied, as evenly as he did not feel, "a double amputation and even _more_ of your insufferable company." 

Renounce what he had devoted himself to? Renounce the opportunity to destroy the corruption of the Senate, the useless bickering and idiocy, the perpetual gridlock? 

His student's student was obviously lacking a grasp on reality. 

"Well, then, I suppose the end of my 'keeping you alive' will end when I give you over to Master Windu and the Council," Obi-Wan told him. "I'm certain you've already planned your grandiose speeches to convince them, or the Senate, that you are useful yet." He shifted to take care of the other stump, being just as thorough, and gentle… because he did not believe in inflicting unnecessary pain, even if this man was the reason for the loss of so many good people… as he'd been on the first one.

Artoo gave a beeping question to Anakin then, stating there was a request from the Coruscant Guard as to the status of the Chancellor. Obi-Wan, catching only part of it, still felt a very intense warning in the Force, and he flicked his attention to Anakin.

"I have a bad feeling!" he called out.

"You and me both!" Anakin called back, his own awareness warning him -- after all, where had the Guard been when the Chancellor (the _Sith_ , the **Sith** , architect of all of this pain) had been 'taken'. "Artoo... reply 'incapacitated', and repeat that we're going to the Temple." 

With any luck, that would give the Guard the impression that the Chancellor was in need of a Healer, and that would buy them time. He hated thinking of any need to distrust the troopers -- 

\-- but the Guard had nearly killed his Snips. Had killed Fives. 

The rage that had fueled him through his fight with Dooku _blazed_ up in him, the dead-star dragon awake and intent on devouring... 

Dooku's eyes cut over to the young man… that boy was a blazing fire inside the Force, and apt to destroy anything he touched. It almost made him smile; what would that power consume, without Sidious to chain it?

Artoo beeped affirmation and handled the communications; incapacitated was not a lie in that droid's linguistics, as death was a form of incapacity.

"Anakin." Obi-Wan let his voice gently reach out and wrap around his friend. It pulled at their bond, offering an anchor and shield both.

Obi-Wan. Brother, near-father, best friend, teacher... Anakin took a slow, shuddering breath and eased his grip on the controls, pushing away the rage and the cold, bitter hatred, making himself focus away from it. Focus on Obi-Wan, on that gentle steadiness that wasn't scolding, wasn't... wasn't anything but safe. He leaned against the bond, not certain how much Obi-Wan could feel and how much was just that he _knew_ him, and hung on to that steady, bedrock-strong core of stability. 

Stability he was so far from having that it was in another quadrant... but Obi-Wan was there. 

He hadn't been too late for his brother, at least. 

//Good. I'm here. We've got the salvation of our people in our hands.// Obi-Wan surged pride to his former Padawan, then finally moved to get himself in a seat, still locked onto the Force hold around Dooku to be on the safe side. There would be no more Force manipulations from him.


End file.
